


Pas de Deux

by brinnanza



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinnanza/pseuds/brinnanza
Summary: If pressed, Sheppard can do a passable waltz, a slightly better two-step, and a slightly worse foxtrot. He hasn’t done it in years, but it’s all muscle memory, he thinks, like riding a bike or field stripping his Beretta.





	Pas de Deux

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt from [this list](http://brinnanza.tumblr.com/post/130839577231/nonsexual-acts-of-intimacy-select-from-the), slow dancing.

There are no impending attacks, nothing on Atlantis is acting up or exploding, and the mission is a milk-run, so when the leader of the Llosa asks Sheppard and his team to stay for the summer solstice festival, he says yes. There’s dinner (a huge spread that contains absolutely no citrus, to Rodney’s (very vocal) delight) and drinks (a warm, slightly spicy cider that the Llosa brew specially for the celebration). After the last plates have been cleared away, there’s music -- beautiful, complex melodies played on stringed instruments. 

Everyone makes their way into the town square, and then there’s dancing. If pressed, Sheppard can do a passable waltz, a slightly better two-step, and a slightly worse foxtrot. He hasn’t done it in years, but it’s all muscle memory, he thinks, like riding a bike or field stripping his Beretta. The square is aglow from the bright full moon overhead and the lights strung up along the buildings. Sheppard’s feeling pleasantly buzzed, just enough to make him a little loose. He picks his way across the crowd to where McKay is having an animated conversation with a young copper-haired woman about water filtration mechanics.

Sheppard flashes a bright smile at the woman, charming and a little contrite, and says, “I need to borrow Dr. McKay for a moment if you don’t mind.” He puts his hands on McKay’s shoulders and steers him away over spluttered protests. 

“Colonel, what are you -- I actually found the one person who isn’t a total idiot and -- stop it!” Sheppard ignores him until they get to the edge of the crowd of dancers, then he turns him around to face him and holds out his hand.

It takes McKay a second, and maybe Sheppard should be nervous, worried that he’s ruining something that’s already pretty great, but he just waits for McKay to catch up. Sheppard can see the moment it clicks, like the equation that makes the whole proof work. “What do you -- oh. Oh. Really?” 

Sheppard's ears go a little pink and he shrugs. “Yeah.”

McKay gives him a considering look, then slips his hand into Sheppard’s. “Okay.”

Sheppard tugs him into the crowd, and then the music changes. It’s slow and sweet, and Sheppard's formal dance abilities are completely unnecessary. He just pulls McKay close and settles one arm around his waist, swaying to the music. McKay steps on his toes a couple of times, but then he finally relaxes, his other hand on Sheppard’s shoulder.

“I usually lead, you know,” McKay says.

Sheppard quirks an eyebrow at him. “You dance?”

“I… have danced, yes.”

“The chicken dance doesn’t count.”

It should be awkward, Sheppard thinks, the pair of them so close, finally acknowledging whatever this is between them. He’d always thought McKay would try to talk it to death or that they would fall into bed together after some desperate, endless crisis and never speak of it again. But McKay is scowling at him, the happy, good-natured scowl that’s undercut by the brightness in his eyes, and it’s just… easy. It’s just the two of them, the same as always, but so, so much better.

McKay reaches up and flicks Sheppard’s ear, so Sheppard pinches him in the side. There’s a brief power struggle, and then Sheppard reels McKay in close and tips their foreheads together.

“You could have said, you know,” McKay says quietly.

Sheppard squeezes his hand. “I’m saying now.” 

They dance until the band stops playing.


End file.
